© 2009, Patrick Hester. All Rights Reserved
Evermist: Chapter Seven
Elias stood before the mirror adjusting his shirt beneath his coat, hand straying to the freshly stitched patch on his shoulder; a bullseye with a small rifle laid across it and the word ‘Marksman’ in white just beneath. He couldn’t help but grin.
“Okay, okay – we all know you got the Marksman’s patch!” Narut chided him as he entered their room still wrapped in his towel and fresh from the shower. “No need to rub it in!”
Elias grinned. “I’m not! I’m just… I didn’t actually think it would happen is all.”
“Right,” Narut said as he started dressing. “That gets you an extra half silver a month, right? I should have practiced more!”
Elias laughed nervously. The pay increase had been a surprise, the average Militiaman making a silver and a half per month where he’d make a solid two. He almost shook his head at that. His allowance at home had been a silver and a half a week for the last three years.
“Three weeks left before… You seeing Millie tonight?”
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© 2009, Patrick Hester. All Rights Reserved
Evermist: Chapter Six
Elias and Narut passed through the South Gate and down the walk towards the Pier District. A wall encircled the Pier District, intended to act as a first line of defense in the case of an invasion, but really it was to keep drunken sailors and Conscripts from invading the city on a bender, or so Sergent Fesh had said.
Conscripts were not allowed in the city once their training had begun. No one had said why, but Elias assumed desertions were lower when there was nowhere for the Conscripts to run.
A bustling area filled with inns and taverns had grown up in the district. Elias’ father had slapped him so hard he fell and hit a table the one time he’d gotten the courage to ask about the Pier District. Then he didn’t sit comfortably for a week. Still, his friends and he would sneak down and try to see what was going on and make up stories based on the little they could see and hear.
Walking down the cobblestone streets in a Militia Uniform to meet his friends for drinks felt oddly surreal.
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© 2009, Patrick Hester. All Rights Reserved
Evermist: Chapter Five
“Fire!”
Sergent Fesh’s voice boomed, quickly followed by the sound of a dozen rifles going off. Elias had one eye closed as he squeezed the trigger on his repeater and saw the puff of smoke on the other side of the range where the bullet hit the target. He knew it was in the center again. Everyone said he was the best shot, and he didn’t believe it at first, but Fesh told him he was a natural and that… That he -was- starting to believe.
He brought the lever down, bringing another bullet into the chamber but he didn’t squeeze the trigger again just yet. You learned early to never fire until Fesh told you to.
“Again!”
A dozen more rifles exploded with sound, and Elias saw the puff of smoke that indicated a hit on his bag of sand. Again and again, Fesh gave the order to fire, and the young men lying on their stomachs, weapons stretched out before them, fired until their weapons were exhausted, then reloaded and started again.
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© 2009, Patrick Hester. All Rights Reserved
Evermist: Chapter Four
Elias stepped into the commissary and looked around. Narut stood up from a table against the left hand wall and gave a wave and a smile. Elias returned both before stepping into line behind some other conscripts waiting for their midday meal.
At the edge of the table where a server stood ladling food onto trays, a young woman in brown smiled at Elias and handed him an empty metal tray, one that was only slightly bent. It was also quite clean and dry, unlike some of the others he could see.
“What’s on today, Millie?” he asked with a smile of his own.
“Grilled whitefish with greens and potatoes.”
“Fish again?” he couldn’t help but frown.
Milicent smiled crookedly. “Four times a week. Fish is cheaper than beef or pork. But don’t tell anyone I said so. Plus, there’s no rice today.”
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© 2009, Patrick Hester. All Rights Reserved
Evermist: Chapter Three
Still shocked, Elias ran his hand over the stubble on his head. Looking to Narut he gave a small smile to see the other doing the same thing. He and Narut, it seemed, would be bunk mates for the duration of their stay at Fort Sudren. Both had been given haircuts and uniforms and now waited for their instructor along with a dozen other members of L Company, which had been split into 3 squads for training.
Narut was from Southport, eldest son of a fisherman who’d spent most of his life stepping in and out of boats. His skin was dark and his hair had been curly before they shaved it all off. He smiled easily in a way that put Elias at ease. He was the kind of person everyone liked immediately and Elias was glad to have him around, let alone as a fast friend.
“Right!” shouted a voice that boomed like thunder, causing all the young men to jump. “You lot! FORM UP!”
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Chapter Two
The lightwagon hummed as the driver navigated the streets of Valles. Elias sat in the coach, arm resting on the window sill as he watched the city pass by. No one else had flagged the driver down, so he rode alone and it suited his mood.
The winding road from the hills down to the lower city held little beyond the normal city clamor for him to concentrate on but it was better than the alternative. He watched as the fine coats with tails of the Gentry of the Hills gave way to the rougher, woolen coats of the lower city. The colors had always surprised him, even when he was a child and would take trips with his parents to the lower city to catch a boat to Southport, where his Grandparents lived. Yellows and blues and reds were the colors of the coats here – but always bright. The Hills, everything seemed somehow duller and drab.
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Chapter One
Elias folded his good white shirt and placed it in the duffel atop his other worldly possessions he was allowed to take with him; two pairs of pants – one black, one dark blue, small clothes and undershirts, three pair of long underwear his mother had made special for the trip, two long, woolen shirts and the jackets to match the pants, the slingshot he’d carved from the tree branch that had caught his eye as being ‘perfect’ when he was only ten years old, all three books that he had bought with his own money, and the letters from his summer away from Anise tucked away with a red ribbon to keep them together and safe. For Induction today, he wore the gray suit with his black shirt. He knew he’d be issued a uniform as soon as he arrived, but he still wanted to look presentable at the gates.
A small part of his mind wondered how many other young men showing up today could boast three coats and the pants to match. He didn’t think there would be very many, if any at all.
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Evermist is a new, serial fiction piece coming to you once a week as part of my ‘Tales From The New Universe’ series.
Synopsis: Elias is born of a family with influence and money. He loves his family, especially his mother and younger siblings, but his father is another story. In his father’s eyes, Eli is a disappointment.
When he comes of age, Eli’s name is put into the Militia Lottery – a drafting process that has served the island nation of Paerleon for centuries, providing young people with jobs in service to their country and their Magistrate. His father has the option, like so many of the upper class, to purchase his son’s conscription outright, but he chooses not to do this, knowing that 80-90% of the Militia are sent to the isle of Evermist to serve their terms. Few return.
Join Eli as he travels to the ancient and dangerous island known as ‘Evermist’, a place steeped in folklore, mystery and magics. Eli must learn what he needs to survive if he ever wants to see his family again, and if he ever wants to leave this place that has been locked away from the rest of the world for all time…
Evermist begins: October 2nd, 2009.
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